Center City, Philadelphia

Center City is the central business district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east, the Schuylkill River to the west, and Vine Street to the north, Center City is coterminous with Philadelphia before the Act of Consolidation in 1854. Founded by William Penn in 1681, Pennsylvania became the largest port of the Thirteen Colonies during the 1750s, and it served as a center of the American Revolution and as the temporary capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800. Immigrants from Germany and Ireland settled in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts during the early 20th century, and, in 1854, Philadelphia merged with its surrounding districts. since then, the 2.07-square-mile Center City has been the smallest section of the city, but its 193,000 residents in 2018 made it the second-most populated downtown area in the United States after Midtown Manhattan in Manhattan, New York City.